SunCorp

SunCorp are a Hong-Kong-based telephone manufacturer. In 2001 they had less than 10% European market share and were looking to gain significant share from the leaders Siemens and Philips. We answered their brief to : “Help us leverage our investment in DECT technology and compete with Siemens across Europe”.

Euro DECT collection

Our response was a ‘platform design’ strategy that enables designs targeted at different Eurozones to use the same internal electronic parts. The collection consists of three handset designs, each with shape attributes addressing the visual preferences of a specific European region: 'Mid-Euro' for Benelux-Germany, 'Nordic' for Scandinavia and 'Latin' for Southern Europe. In the first year following launch, turnover was £57M with profits up 171% over the previous year.

The collection continues

Building on the success of the first collection, TheAlloy created second and third collections targeted at specific European customer types. Working with the same platform sharing strategy employed for the first collection, the combination of design, efficient manufacturing and volume sales continued to elevate SunCorp’s European market share.

Results

In 2003, SunCorp sold over 4 million products and overtook Philips as the No.2 supplier of digital cordless phones in the world. This coordinated body of work created a new champion of UK design, who credit design for their US$130 million annual sales uplift and almost 4 times market share growth in three years.

“The bottom line is that our investment in Alloy has generated a huge return and helped us grow to become the second largest DECT-digital cordless phone manufacturer in the world”
Malcolm Paton, Executive Director, Strategy, Product Marketing, SunCorp Communications Ltd.

Chrome

Having established themselves as a major player in the global market. SunCorp extended their influence as an ODM by creating a sub-brand Chrome. TheAlloy defined the brand proposition which was exemplified in the initial launch offer of a Bluetooth handset, structural packaging and sales material.